Fancy learning to drive a powerboat?
With our two day powerboat courses you’re a qualified boat driver!
One day we just woke up and realised we couldn’t remember the last time we had challenged ourselves to learn something new. Summer was coming up and seeing as we like doing a bit of wakeboarding, we decided to take ourselves off and learn how to drive a powerboat, with the hope of passing our International Powerboat Driving Licence. If you’ve got this, it means you can hire and drive a powerboat anywhere in the world.
So, with vague ideas of being able to hire a powerboat and go wakeboarding off some tropical island with calm blue waters and sparkly white sand beaches, we headed to Poole in Dorset to learn how to drive a powerboat. We knew it was going to be a far cry from my tropical dream when we were kitted out like deep sea fisherman in waterproof gear before we headed out into the bay…
With the rain lashing down and the swell getting bigger, we have to say it was two of the most exhilarating and informative days out on the water we have ever spent. As well as actually driving the boat (perfecting high speed figures of eight was the best bit!), we learnt about ‘man overboard’ procedures, knots, navigation and the tricky task of docking in the harbour during a gale. As out instructor Ali said : “If you can dock in these conditions, you’ll never have any problems!”.
By the end of the two days we felt we’d learnt a lot, had a fun time and met some interesting new people (we were a small group of three on the course). We all passed and were awarded with our International Powerboat Driver’s Licence which arrived in the post from the Royal Yachting Association a few weeks later.
If you’re looking for something completely different to do over a weekend or midweek short break, we can highly recommend these two day powerboat driving courses available in Dorset, Buckinghamshire and Sussex. If two days is a bit too much of a commitment, we’ve also got have a go powerboating experiences in Hampshire and Buckinghamshire, getting you out on the water for a couple of hours.